Week In Review: July 24

on
Friday, July 24, 2015

FY16 Budget Crisis

·Budget
stalemate continues in Springfield. As the State of Illinois entered the
fourth week of the new fiscal year without a balanced budget in place, the
Democrat majority again refused to negotiate in good faith and instead
continued their piece-meal approach to the budget crisis.

In the House, Democrats
again backed a temporary budget to fund certain services at a level that is not
sustainable over the course of the entire fiscal year. House Amendment 1 to HB
4143 was adopted by a narrow majority of Democrats, but did not receive
enough votes to be passed on Third Reading and was therefore held for future
consideration.

The Democrat majority continues to
insist on spending levels that are unsustainable. The Governor’s Office of Management and
Budget believes this plan will ultimately require the expenditure of over $36
billion of GRF taxpayer resources for FY16.
The Democrats’ bills march the taxpayers of Illinois toward a $4 billion
unbalanced budget one month at a time.

House Republicans continue to stand
united in our support for a truly balanced budget that protects the interests
of taxpayers, working families and seniors.

State Employee Pay Update

·Court
rulings on state employee payroll. On Friday, July 17th the
Illinois Supreme Court denied Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s request for
direct appeal and consolidation of the two matters involving state employee
payroll.

Also on Friday, the
First Appellate Court (Cook County) issued an order vacating the temporary
restraining order limiting payroll to the federal minimum wage and returned the
matter to the circuit court for evidentiary hearings in support of the relief
requested by the Attorney General.

With conflicting
court rulings over whether state employees should be paid in the absence of a
state budget, Comptroller Leslie Munger is continuing to process payrolls to
all state employees in their full amounts.

Legislative Pay Raises

·Due to the Democrats’ failure to pass
legislation specifically prohibiting Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) for
state legislators for FY16, effective July 31st, General Assembly
members will be receiving a 2 percent COLA on their base salary. Member
stipends will also increase by 2 percent.

Democrats have used
the excuse that since funding was not included in the FY16 budget, there will
not be a COLA. They neglect to mention that no budget has been approved and
signed into law. In addition, no substantive bill has been passed to deny the
COLA. The Comptroller believes she must implement the COLAs because there was
no General Assembly action taken to deny them.

Speaker Madigan has
called us back to Springfield week after week for continuous session in an
effort to break our resolve and raise taxes. The Democrats want to again raise
taxes on working families to pay for more spending, including a pay raise for
themselves.

House Republicans
are pushing for passage of HB
4225 to block the pay raise. Our legislation specifically prohibits
cost-of-living adjustments for members of General Assembly and other elected
state office holders in the new fiscal year.

For the third week
in a row, House Republicans moved to discharge HB 4225 from the Rules Committee
so that a vote could be taken to reject
legislative pay raises. And for the third week in a row, House Democrats
denied our request. It’s unconscionable that the Democrats would even consider
accepting a pay raise.

Speaker Madigan
needs to demonstrate some fiscal responsibility. He needs to immediately
release HB 4225 from Rules so we can reject the pay raises and allocate those
dollars where they can best help our communities.

Medicaid Expansion

·Illinois
Medicaid expansion sign-ups double predictions. Illinois is among a dozen
states where the number of new enrollees surpassed projections for the
expansion of Medicaid under President Barack Obama's health law. While the
surge in sign-ups lifts the number of insured people, it has also stoked
worries about the future cost to taxpayers.

Illinois and Cook County
eventually will have to bear 10 percent of the cost of expanding the safety-net
insurance program for the poor. The federal government agreed to pay all costs
for the expansion through 2016, but it will begin lowering its share in 2017.

More than twice as many Illinois
residents have enrolled under the expansion than was projected by former
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn's administration. It expected 298,000 people to sign
up in 2015, but 623,000 newly eligible Illinoisans enrolled by the end of June.
Sign-ups have outstripped forecasts in at least a dozen states, according to a
new analysis by The
Associated Press.

With more people getting free health
care, costs to Illinois and Cook County will increase as the federal government
scales back what it pays from 100 percent to 90 percent by 2020. In 2020, the
Medicaid expansion will cost the state $208.6 million and Cook County $72.6
million, according to new projections from Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration.
That year, the federal government's share of the Medicaid expansion costs will
be $3.03 billion.

Welfare Benefits

·New law
could prevent welfare benefits from going to the deceased. A new state law
could bring an end to the practice of accidentally doling out welfare benefits
to dead people.

Under legislation
sponsored by State Rep. Dwight Kay and signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner, the
Illinois Department of Human Services will begin a monthly review of state
death records to determine if any of the deceased are still receiving aid. The
new program comes on the heels of two audits showing that millions of taxpayer
dollars had been paid out to people who were no longer living.

In February, Auditor General
William Holland found that the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family
Services last year paid out $3.7 million for medical services to 1,111 people
who already had been recorded as dead. That came after Holland found the state
had overpaid $12.3 million for medical care to 2,850 dead people in 2013. State
officials blamed the problem on an antiquated computer system.

·Wheeler
calls on Congress to act quickly to protect military personnel at home. State
Rep. Barbara Wheeler has filed a
resolution to protect military personnel in the wake of last Thursday’s attack
on the Recruitment Center and Navy Operational Support Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
House
Resolution 658 calls on the U.S. Congress to act swiftly to enact laws that
allow military personnel to be armed for their protection in light of several
terror attacks that have been carried out on U.S. military installations in
recent years.

“The issue of ensuring the safety of
those who protect our nation is two-fold in this day of terrorist threats at
home and abroad,” said Wheeler. “We expect our military personnel to be able to
defend themselves while overseas, but today they also need to protect
themselves at home. For this reason, I have filed a resolution that calls on
the U.S. Congress to act quickly to allow our service men and women to protect
themselves while serving on home soil.” Read more.

·Bryant's
first bill becomes law to protect National Guard members' jobs. State Rep. Terri Bryant received the Governor’s
signature on her first piece of legislation on Tuesday. Back in April,
Bryant received unanimous support in the House for HB 3721, a
bill designed to help National Guard members keep their jobs. Bryant, whose
district shares a border with the state of Missouri, explained the need for the
measure.

"When a member of the National Guard is called to duty by their own
state's Governor or by the Governor of a neighboring state, this bill would
allow them to categorize their work as military service," Bryant said.
"The addition of a 'military service' definition to their work in another
state affords members of the National Guard protection that their job will be
held for them upon a call up to duty in another state."

Bryant said that while the change may seem small, it is quite significant for
the men and women of Illinois serving in the National Guard. Read more.

Protecting Victims of
Human-Trafficking

·Legislation
to protect human-trafficking victims signed by Gov. Rauner. Though budget
stalemate grips Springfield, Gov. Rauner pressed forward with the signing of an
important piece of legislation authored by State Rep. Barbara Wheeler. House
Bill 2556 is a victory in the ongoing fight against human-trafficking.

“Human-trafficking is a much more pervasive practice than many of us realize,”
said Wheeler. “I’m pleased that Gov. Rauner has joined with many of us
advocates to help protect victims by signing House Bill 2556 into law. This
legislation makes information about a very important resource available to
victims and witnesses so that we can take another step closer to ending this
horrific practice”

House
Bill 2556 creates the Human-Trafficking Resource Center Notice Act. The
legislation provides that specified businesses and establishments conspicuously
provide information concerning the availability of the National
Human-Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC). Not only will this legislation help
victims of this heinous crime gain access to the resources they need to
overcome the trauma they’ve experienced, but also be an avenue for anyone who
observes or suspects trafficking of occurring to be able to report it to the
proper authorities.
Since the NHTRC began offering its services in December of 2007, more than
90,000 potential instances of human-trafficking have been reported, leading to
nearly 19,000 cases brought against human-traffickers, saving thousands from
the emotional and physical torment of this practice. The vast majority of the
tips NHTRC has received came not from victims, but by concerned members of the
community, which is why making information about NHTRC more readily available
to the public is so important.

·Celebrating
25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. July 26, 2015 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA). Celebrations of the signing of the ADA by
President George H.W. Bush on July 26, 1990 are taking place across the
nation.

The ADA and the ADA Amendments
Act of 2008 (ADAAA) give civil rights protections to individuals with
disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race,
color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. The ADA and ADAAA also assure
equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities for access to businesses,
employment, transportation, state and local government programs and services,
and telecommunications.

To celebrate this 25th milestone, the
ADA National Network and its ten regional ADA Centers across the United States
offer an ADA Anniversary Tool Kit
for use by the public and the media through the ADA Anniversary website
(ADAanniversary.org).